Marco/RichardsA woman who was bullied for having a big forehead has shown off her full face for the first time in decades following surgery to make it smaller.
Carla-Marie Norton, from Andover, Hampshire, was born with naturally afro-textured hair she scraped back into a ponytail during her school years.
The hairstyle triggered a phenomena known as traction alopecia, where repeated strain on hair follicles can trigger irreversible hair loss, which in turn made her forehead bigger.
Take a look at how doctors performed the operation below.
Warning – Graphic Content:
Carla recalled one occasion when the feature particularly stood out, saying:
There was one picture that I had taken at the swimming pool in our school.
It was a summer’s day and the sun was literally reflecting off my forehead to the point that it looked like a solar panel.
Marco/RichardsCarla was bullied by her fellow classmates, who called her ‘slaphead’ and ‘fivehead’. While she acknowledged they were just ‘kids being kids’, the 37-year-old said the words ‘stung’.
She added:
By the time I was 15 or 16, I began to feel really self-conscious.
Carla, who works in HR for international makeup brand HUDA Beauty, spent years desperately trying to cover her forehead until finally she googled the words ‘I hate my forehead’.
Marco/RichardsAn article about a woman who’d undergone forehead surgery popped up, and after reading it Carla said there was ‘no question’ about what her next steps would be.
She explained:
It was literally a lightbulb moment. I didn’t even know hairline-lowering surgery existed. There was no question whether I was having it. It was happening.
Carla had the surgery in August at UK clinic London Bridge Plastic Surgery, and following two hours under the knife her confidence was immediately boosted.
The operation was performed by surgeon Christopher Inglefield and involved removing a portion of the forehead skin before bringing the scalp forward by around three centimetres. The incisions are cut in a delicate zig-zag and are placed in the natural hairline so they’re as hidden as possible. The scalp is then reattached.
Marco/RichardsThe 37-year-old said she ‘couldn’t be happier with the results’, adding it’s made a ‘huge difference’ to her life.
Before the operation, Carla would avoid swimming and taking pictures with her two children in order to hide her forehead. She hid behind her fringe and was terrified of going out in the wind in case her forehead was exposed.
When it came to her wedding day in 2016, the HR worker insisted on having her hair styled in a ‘big side fringe’ to cover what she perceived as a flaw.
Marco/RichardsSpeaking of her fears, Carla said:
I was very conscious that all the other girls didn’t have big foreheads. I thought that was why boys were not attracted to me as much as my friends. I basically blamed my forehead for everything.
Looking back, one result of my body hang-up was that I never took photos with my children.
I actually have very few photos with my son. He’s five now, and yet there’s hardly any shots of us both together. It’s not a nice feeling for me.
But since the operation, I’m making up for lost time.
Marco/RichardsWith her forehead now around three centimetres smaller, the mum is able to live her life without having to worry about the placement of her fringe.
She spoke of how she recently went on a rollercoaster with her children at Peppa Pig World and even though the wind was blowing her hair back, she ‘literally did not have a care in the world’.
Carla said:
It’s the little things that stand out.
That’s something I would never have done before the operation, because it would have risked exposing my forehead.
Marco/RichardsCarla’s surgeon said hairline lowering operations have become more popular since he first began performing them in 2013.
He commented:
It’s very difficult to disguise this area of the body in everyday life.
We often hear from patients who say, ‘I never knew this surgery existed – and I’m so relieved it does.’
As in Carla’s case, we hear stories of past bullying at school, the struggles to form meaningful relationships and the general erosion of any sort of self-esteem.
It’s also a popular procedure for trans patients, particularly male to female transitioning patients who are undergoing facial feminisation surgery.
Marco/RichardsCarla went on to praise the success of her surgery, describing the scar as ‘well hidden’ and adding that if she puts makeup over it ‘you can’t even see it’.
The mum also shared an image of herself after the surgery and said it was the first time she’d felt confident enough to wear a middle parting.
Amazing!
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Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.